Hannah Burnett has been a close friend of EN from its inception, and graciously agreed once again to be a guest blogger this spring. Hannah’s rise to being one of the country’s best young professionals started from a young age and relatively small means. Hannah had a great partnership with her first ‘big time’ horse, Keep The Faith, spanning from the Young Rider ranks all the way to a trip around Rolex Kentucky in 2007. Currently, Hannah’s top horse is St. Barths. Together they’ve won the 2009 Fair Hill CCI** and the 2010 Fair Hill CCI***, and they have big plans for this year. Thanks to Hannah for writing for us from The Fork; be sure to check back for later installments of this pair’s exciting adventures!
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From Hannah:
The last few weeks were supposed to be a time for me to practice, settle down, and take a couple weekends off of high-pressure competition, and prepare mentally for The Fork and …the three-day that comes after The Fork. I was really looking forward to this time and it seems to have passed me by without really being able to check those things off my list. I did get some practice: Ocala Horse Park had a nice schooling show where I got to ride Nike in my borrowed shadbelly (thanks Lindsey!) and practice not running away from the tails in the 90 degree weather, while also getting some sideways glances from the other competitors who were told to “not wear a coat.” Good times! In all seriousness, it was good practice and I also took Galactic who gained a lot of confidence from the experience.
I’m not really sure I mastered the settling down part. With everyone away at Poplar and then David off to teach the California-Canadians for a week, I haven’t had a whole lot of the supervision that I like at this stage of the season. I had a tough lesson on Monday with David and I hadn’t realized how much I strayed from my original plan of keeping my cool, using my body instead of my spur, and not using my hands. I also picked up a very annoying habit of staring at my horse’s heads. Grrrrr!!! Although it was deflating and irritating, I definitely have benefited from the lesson and then dissecting it every day since.
I had a lesson with Mark on Wednesday afternoon here at The Fork and he was happy with how Nike was going and encouraged me to keep working him really through and then raising his pole so his ears were on top. David watched my lesson which always makes me feel more confident. Even when he’s hard on me I know he’s on my side and believes in me, which can really make a big difference in the way I ride. If you know someone stands behind you whether you win or fall off trying, you take more chances and ride with guts.
Even though I’ve been struggling to find that confidence and groove this spring, I feel like I’m getting closer through the mistakes. I hate feeling like I’m not progressing, so often times I push too far, just to feel a difference. The day to day progression and patience in the process is the hardest thing for me to accept and practice. It can’t always be perfect, or hardly ever for that matter. I’m trying to focus on much smaller goals right now, such as: riding with my core and thigh instead of my lower leg, looking where I’m going (can we say, first riding lesson?), and not immediately getting angry when there’s a mistake.
I have Nike, William and Galactic at The Fork this weekend and I’ll be working on achieving my small goals instead of going for big wins.
Until next time, I’ll be taking deep breaths….
-HSB
